Chapter 254: Alone

He had wanted to march her all the way to the border himself, flanked by a phalanx of his elite guards, to ensure no rogue cultivator or demonic beast even looked at her funny.

But Ji’an had absolutely forbidden it.

"If you walk with me through the eastern market," Ji’an had argued earlier that morning, pointing an accusing finger at him over breakfast, "every single fujoshi within a ten-mile radius is going to manifest on a balcony to write fanfiction about our ’tearful, angsty farewell.’ I refuse. I’m leaving quietly. I’m sneaking out like a thief in the night, except it is morning."

Lin Feng let out a deep, rumbling sigh, crossing his massive arms over his chest. "You can’t sneak out, little bird. You’re wearing the crest of the Celestial Sword Sect. You tend to attract attention simply by existing."

"I’ll suppress my aura," Ji’an promised, adjusting the strap of a small decoy satchel she had slung over her shoulder to make her look more like a standard traveling scholar. "Just stay here. Go polish your halberd or review troop movements. Don’t even think about following me."

Lin Feng chuckled, a warm, rich sound that lacked the aura he usually projected when the rest of the world was watching.

He reached out, his large, calloused hand gently resting on the top of her head, entirely ignoring her attempt to swat him away.

"Don’t act recklessly in the swamps, Ji’an," the Commander ordered softly, his voice dropping into a register meant only for her. "The crustacean beasts are slow, but the rogue cultivators who scavenge the shores are not. If you find yourself cornered... You have the token."

Ji’an patted the inner pocket of her robes, where the intricate jade token he had given her rested securely against her chest. "If I get cornered, Brother, I’m going to blind them with chili powder and run away. But thank you. I’ll see you when I get back."

"Safe travels," Lin Feng murmured, finally dropping his hand and stepping back to allow her to pass through the heavy iron gates.

As Ji’an turned her back on the estate and began the long walk toward the bustling eastern commercial district, she let out a long, heavy exhale.

The distance from the estate was an immediate relief, but the psychological weight pressing down on her shoulders did not entirely lift.

She was alone.

It was a stark, undeniable fact that settled into her bones as the noise of the city began to swallow her.

For the past few weeks, she had been constantly surrounded.

She endured the mind games of Xiao Yichen, the revelations of Lin Feng, the obnoxious, boundless energy of her little brother Xuan, and the exhausting clinging of Su Yin.

But now, as she navigated the winding, sun-drenched streets toward the eastern border, the silence in her own immediate vicinity felt strangely... heavy.

She missed her shadow.

Her hand subconsciously drifted toward her left wrist, her fingertips brushing against the cool, smooth jade bead of the Frost-Silk Pulse Guard hidden beneath her sleeve.

Last night, after her conversation with Lin Feng, the bracelet had activated one final time.

She was sitting on her bed, packing her spatial ring, when the frosty projection had bloomed in the air.

Xie Wangchen’s face had appeared, illuminated by the eerie, pale blue light of the array.

He looked immaculate, as always, his silver hair cascading over his white robes, his face a flawless mask of carved jade.

But Ji’an’s instincts, highly attuned to subtle shifts in temperature and energy, had immediately noticed something was different.

Wangchen’s aura was unstable.

Even through the projection, she could feel the oppressive weight of the Flawless Ice Qi vibrating off of him.

His eyes had been bottomlessly black, lacking the usual sharp, intelligent glint that defined his arrogant persona.

He had looked like a man standing on the very edge of an explosion, desperately holding the detonator with white-knuckled fingers.

"I think I’m going to breakthrough, Brother Ji’an," Wangchen told her, his voice a low, rough rasp that sounded as if it had been dragged over broken glass. "The bottleneck is almost shattering..." 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

Ji’an had been thrilled for him, of course.

Breaking through to the next major realm was a monumental achievement for any cultivator.

She beamed at him, completely oblivious to the madness that was actually fueling his accelerated cultivation.

"That’s amazing, Little Puddle!" she had cheered, leaning close to the projection. "Take all the time you need! Don’t rush it! I’ll be in the swamps fighting crabs anyway, so my signal would probably be terrible. I’ll see you back on the mountain!"

Wangchen had stared at her for a long moment.

The look in his eyes had been so intense, so heavy with unspoken restraint; for some reason, it made Ji’an’s breath catch in her throat.

"Don’t let anyone else cook rice for you while I’m gone," Wangchen whispered, a bizarre and irrational demand that completely baffled her. "Eat only your own provisions. Don’t accept tea from strangers. And Brother Ji’an..."

He had pressed his hand against his side of the projection.

"When you return to the peak..."

Before Ji’an could even hear what he wanted to say, the array snapped shut.

The projection vanished, and the midnight-blue threads of the bracelet went dark.

Now, walking through the crowded market, the memory of that call sat uncomfortably in her chest.

"He’s just stressed about the tribulation lightning," Ji’an muttered to herself, kicking a loose pebble across the cobblestones. "Cultivators always get weird and dramatic before a major breakthrough. He probably just wants me to meal-prep for him when he gets out."

But despite her rationalizations, the absence of his steady, freezing presence was a gaping hole in her daily routine.

She already grew so accustomed to having a terrifying yandere in her corner that navigating the world without him suddenly felt incredibly... vulnerable.

"I need to have a distraction," Ji’an sighed, forcing herself to focus on her surroundings.